Newsroom > Professor Chitra Raghavan Named ‘New Abolitionist’ by Sanctuary for Families and the NYS’s Anti-Trafficking Coalition

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Professor Chitra Raghavan Named ‘New Abolitionist’ by Sanctuary for Families and the NYS’s Anti-Trafficking Coalition

Psychology Professor Chitra Raghavan has been named as one of “New York’s New Abolitionists” by the New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition for her work to promote human rights for women and fight human trafficking.

The 2014 cohort of New Abolitionists, which was formally presented in conjunction with U.N. International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, also includes John Jay College Foundation trustee Zachary Carter, the New York City Corporation Counsel and former U.S. Attorney. All fifty New Abolitionists will be honored at a ceremony at the Paley Center for Media in NYC on December 2.

The New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition, founded by Sanctuary for Families in 2004, is an umbrella coalition of more than 110 New York-based organizations engaged in the fight against human trafficking. The New Abolitionists initiative was created as a groundbreaking photography project featuring individuals who are committed to heightening awareness of and combating human trafficking both in New York and globally, with the aim of inspiring New Yorkers to join the movement to end modern day slavery.

Raghavan’s research has focused on intimate partner violence and rape, femicide and gender rights. She is the co-editor with John Jay psychology Professor Shuki Cohen of Domestic Violence: Methodologies in Dialogue (Northeastern University Press, 2013), and co-editor with James Levine of Self-Determination and Women's Rights in Muslim Societies (Brandeis University Press, 2012). She is also the Director of BA/MA Program in Forensic Psychology at John Jay.

The award cites Raghavan for her “longstanding involvement and commitment in support of women’s human rights and legal reform to protect and promote those rights, and especially [her] efforts to help combat violence against women.”

The website www.newyorksnewabolitionists.com goes on to note: “When people think of abolitionist leaders in New York State, names of 19th century icons like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Elizabeth Cady Stanton come to mind. But it is of critical importance to recognize and support the new generation of abolitionists—women and men committed to ending the horrific abomination of human trafficking.”

The latest group of honorees includes public officials, leaders from the private and nonprofit sectors, prominent figures from the performing and visual arts, and trafficking victims and survivors.